Chris Weidman shook up the UFC’s middleweight division when he shocked the world with a knockout win over Anderson Silva.
Prior to that KO, the entire division looked like pretenders to Silva’s crown. Now, Weidman has a host of challengers chomping at the bit. First things first, he must defend his UFC Middleweight Championship against Silva on December 28.
How do we determine who is a contender and who is a pretender? By two factors.
The first is if the fighter can make a run to earn a title shot. If they can not run the gauntlet of a growing division they are most certainly a pretender. The second factor is having a realistic chance, better than 30 percent, at upending the current UFC champion, Chris Weidman.
Those are the two factors being taken in to consideration for this list. With that, these are the contenders and pretenders of the middleweight division.